Nations Left to Test Israel 1 UST The younger Israelites had not fought in any of the wars against the Canaanites. Yahweh wanted them to show faith and courage. So he allowed some enemy people groups to stay in the land. BSB BSB: These are the nations that the LORD left to test all the Israelites who had not known any of the wars in Canaan,
2 UST Yahweh did that in order to teach the new generation of Israelites how to wage war, since they had no experience fighting battles before. BSB BSB: if only to teach warfare to the subsequent generations of Israel, especially to those who had not known it formerly:
3 UST These are the people groups that Yahweh allowed to stay in the land: the Philistines and their five leaders, the Canaanites, the people living in and around the city of Sidon, and the Hivites living in the mountains of Lebanon between Mount Baal Hermon and Lebo Hamath. BSB BSB: the five rulers of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites who lived in the mountains of Lebanon from Mount Baal-hermon to Lebo-hamath.
4 UST Yahweh left those people groups there to test the Israelites. He wanted to see whether they would obey the commands that he had told Moses to give to their ancestors. BSB BSB: These nations were left to test the Israelites, to find out whether they would keep the commandments of the LORD, which He had given their fathers through Moses.
5 UST That was why the Israelites lived among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. BSB BSB: Thus the Israelites continued to live among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.
6 UST The Israelite men married women from those people groups. They also allowed their daughters to marry men from those people groups. And they worshiped the gods of those people groups. BSB BSB: And they took the daughters of these people in marriage, gave their own daughters to their sons, and served their gods.
Othniel 7 UST The Israelites then did things that Yahweh had said were very wicked. They stopped worshiping Yahweh, the God their ancestors had worshiped. Instead, they started to worship idols that represented gods such as Baal and goddesses such as Asherah. BSB BSB: So the Israelites did evil in the sight of the LORD; they forgot the LORD their God and served the Baals and the Asherahs.
8 UST This made Yahweh very angry with the people of Israel. So he allowed Cushan- Rishathaim, the king of Aram Naharaim{ in Mesopotamia}, to conquer them. Cushan- Rishathaim ruled over the people of Israel for eight years. BSB BSB: Then the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He sold them into the hand of Cushan-rishathaim king of Aram-naharaim, and the Israelites served him eight years.
9 UST But when the people of Israel pleaded with Yahweh to help them, he brought a leader to rescue them. This leader was Othniel, the son of Caleb’ s younger brother Kenaz. BSB BSB: But when the Israelites cried out to the LORD, He raised up Othniel son of Caleb’s younger brother Kenaz as a deliverer to save them.
10 UST Yahweh’ s Spirit gave Othniel special strength and courage to be a leader for the Israelites. Then he led an army that fought against the army of Cushan- Rishathaim, the king of Aram. Yahweh enabled the Israelites to win this battle. So Othniel defeated Cushan- Rishathaim{ and he no longer ruled over the people of Israel}. BSB BSB: The Spirit of the LORD came upon him, and he became Israel’s judge and went out to war. And the LORD delivered Cushan-rishathaim king of Aram into the hand of Othniel, who prevailed against him.
11 UST After that, the land of Israel was a peaceful place for the next 40 years, until Othniel son of Kenaz died. BSB BSB: So the land had rest for forty years, until Othniel son of Kenaz died.
Ehud 12 UST Then the Israelites once again did things that Yahweh had said were very wicked. Because they were doing these things, Yahweh gave Eglon, the king of Moab, a stronger army than the Israelites had{ so that he could defeat them}. BSB BSB: Once again the Israelites did evil in the sight of the LORD. So He gave Eglon king of Moab power over Israel, because they had done evil in the sight of the LORD.
13 UST Eglon persuaded the leaders of the Ammonites and the Amalekites to join their armies with his army to attack Israel. They defeated the Israelites and captured Jericho, which people called the City of Palms. BSB BSB: After enlisting the Ammonites and Amalekites to join forces with him, Eglon attacked and defeated Israel, taking possession of the City of Palms.
14 UST Then King Eglon of Moab ruled the Israelites for 18 years. BSB BSB: The Israelites served Eglon king of Moab eighteen years.
15 UST After that, the Israelites again pleaded with Yahweh to help them. So he brought another leader to rescue them. This leader was Ehud, the son of Gera. He was from the tribe of Benjamin, and he was left- handed. King Eglon of Moab made the Israelites send him goods such as gold, silver, animals, and crops every year so that he would not attack them. This time, the Israelites put Ehud in charge of delivering those goods. BSB BSB: And again they cried out to the LORD, and He raised up Ehud son of Gera, a left-handed Benjamite, as their deliverer. So they sent him with tribute to Eglon king of Moab.
16 UST Ehud had made a special sword to bring with him on this trip. Both of its edges were sharp, and it was only half a meter long. He hid it under his clothes by strapping it onto his right thigh. BSB BSB: Now Ehud had made for himself a double-edged sword a cubit long. He strapped it to his right thigh under his cloak
17 UST Ehud made sure that King Eglon of Moab received all of the goods that the Israelites had sent.(Eglon was a very fat man.) BSB BSB: and brought the tribute to Eglon king of Moab, who was an obese man.
18 UST After he had delivered all of the goods, Ehud told the men who had carried them to go back to Israel. BSB BSB: After Ehud had finished presenting the tribute, he ushered out those who had carried it.
19 UST Ehud went with the men as far as the boundary stones near the city of Gilgal. There he told the other men to go on, but he himself turned around{ and went back to the king of Moab. When he arrived at the palace,} he told the king,“Your majesty, I have a secret message for you.” So the king told all his servants to be quiet, and he sent them out of the room. BSB BSB: But upon reaching the idols near Gilgal, he himself turned back and said, “I have a secret message for you, O king.” “Silence,” said the king, and all his attendants left him.
20 UST This left Eglon sitting all by himself in the room of his palace where he stayed cool in the heat of summer. Ehud came close to him and said,“I have a message for you from God.” The king stood up from his throne{ to receive the message}. BSB BSB: Then Ehud approached him while he was sitting alone in the coolness of his upper room. “I have a word from God for you,” Ehud said, and the king rose from his seat.
21 UST As the king got up, Ehud reached with his left hand and pulled the dagger from his right thigh. He plunged it into the king’ s stomach. BSB BSB: And Ehud reached with his left hand, pulled the sword from his right thigh, and plunged it into Eglon’s belly.
22 UST Ehud plunged the sword in so far that even the handle went into the king’ s belly. Ehud did not pull the sword out. He left it there, with the king’ s fat surrounding it.{ From the force of the blow,} Eglon’ s bowels discharged. BSB BSB: Even the handle sank in after the blade, and Eglon’s fat closed in over it, so that Ehud did not withdraw the sword from his belly. And Eglon’s bowels emptied.
23 UST Then Ehud stepped out of the room into its entrance area. He closed the doors to the room, and he bolted them shut as he closed them. BSB BSB: Then Ehud went out through the porch, closing and locking the doors of the upper room behind him.
24 UST Then Ehud ran away from the palace. King Eglon’ s servants came back, but they found that someone had locked the doors to the room. They said{ to each other},“The king must be relieving himself in there.” BSB BSB: After Ehud was gone, Eglon’s servants came in and found the doors of the upper room locked. “He must be relieving himself in the cool room,” they said.
25 UST So they waited. But when the king did not open the doors of the room for a long time, they became concerned because they had left him alone for so long. They got a key and unlocked and opened the doors. And they saw that their king was lying on the floor dead{ from the sword wound}. BSB BSB: So they waited until they became worried and saw that he had still not opened the doors of the upper room. Then they took the key and opened the doors—and there was their lord lying dead on the floor.
26 UST The servants had taken so long to enter the king’ s room that Ehud had time to escape. He ran back to Israel, passed by the boundary stones{ at Gilgal}, and arrived at the city of Seirah. BSB BSB: Ehud, however, had escaped while the servants waited. He passed by the idols and escaped to Seirah.
27 UST That city was in the hilly area where the descendants of Ephraim lived. When Ehud got there, he blew a ram’ s horn{ to call the people to join him in fighting against the people of Moab}. So the Israelites went with him down from the hills{ toward the Jordan River}. Ehud was leading them. BSB BSB: On arriving in Seirah, he blew the ram’s horn throughout the hill country of Ephraim. The Israelites came down with him from the hills, and he became their leader.
28 UST Ehud told the men he was leading,“Yahweh is going to enable us to defeat our enemies, the people of Moab. So follow me!” So they followed him down to the Jordan River, and they stationed some of their men at the place where people could walk across the river into Moab. That way they could kill any people from Moab who tried to cross the river to escape. BSB BSB: “Follow me,” he told them, “for the LORD has delivered your enemies the Moabites into your hand.” So they followed him down and seized the fords of the Jordan leading to Moab, and they did not allow anyone to cross over.
29 UST At that time, the Israelites killed about 10, 000 Moabite soldiers{ who had been occupying the city of Jericho}. They were all strong and capable soldiers, but the Israelites killed them all. BSB BSB: At that time they struck down about ten thousand Moabites, all robust and valiant men. Not one of them escaped.
30 UST On that day, the Israelites conquered the people of Moab. After that, the land of Israel was a peaceful place for the next 80 years. BSB BSB: So Moab was subdued under the hand of Israel that day, and the land had rest for eighty years.
Shamgar 31 UST After Ehud died, Shamgar, the son of Anath, became their leader. In one battle, Shamgar killed 600 Philistine soldiers even though his only weapon was an ox goad. In that way, he rescued the Israelites from the Philistines. BSB BSB: After Ehud came Shamgar son of Anath. And he too saved Israel, striking down six hundred Philistines with an oxgoad.
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.